Chapter 215: Hit by the Witchcraft
In the imperial garden of the imperial palace in the capital.
Duke Shen followed Emperor Yongde closely, looking for an opportunity to speak.
For some unknown reason, Emperor Yongde has been in a state of disarray these past few days, muttering something all day long, which seems to be the case as if he has been under witchcraft.
The court officials all believed that Emperor Yongde had been bewitched by witchcraft and secretly ordered the eunuchs to search the entire palace from bed to beam, but they could find no evidence of witchcraft. Seeing that Emperor Yongde remained in the same state, they decided to invite a renowned sorcerer from the capital to exorcise the evil spirit.
Seeing that there was profit to be made, the mage entered the palace excitedly. Before he could open his mouth to speak, he was stabbed to death by Emperor Yongde's sword.
Everyone was stunned. Emperor Yongde was deeply possessed by evil, and this mage was clearly too weak, his reputation unworthy of his ability, unable to suppress the evil within the emperor. So they discussed calling in another mage.
When the other mages heard that the first one died without even opening his mouth, they refused to come back and packed up their belongings and fled the capital.
The ministers had no choice but to entrust Duke Shen to accompany Emperor Yongde to investigate what had beset him and prescribe the right remedy. The empire was in turmoil, with the Prince of Qi leading his army towards the capital. At this critical juncture, the ministers could not make the final decision; the Emperor Yongde had to make the final decision.
Just as dawn was breaking, Emperor Yongde neither attended court nor summoned his generals or civil officials for military consultations. He wandered alone in the Imperial Gardens beside Jingyang Palace, dressed in his pajamas, his hair disheveled, sword in hand, like a wandering ghost.
Duke Shen followed behind, carefully approaching Emperor Yongde and listening carefully.
He speculated that Emperor Yongde might be acting like this because of Consort Xian. He had become like this just a few days after imprisoning Consort Mei Dai in Jingyang Palace. Now that he was wandering around Jingyang Palace again, this further confirmed his thoughts.
All that could be heard was Emperor Yongde muttering softly: "...They all know, they...all know..."
This was the same sentence he repeated over and over again, without mentioning Concubine Xian at all.
Just as Shen Guogong was pondering the meaning of this sentence, Emperor Yongde suddenly turned around and looked at him with bloodshot eyes, like a beast choosing its prey.
"When did you come? What are you going to do?"
Duke Shen was so frightened when he saw Emperor Yongde's expression that he took a step back and said tremblingly:
"Your Majesty, the military situation is urgent. General Jianwei and General Xuanwei have been defeated by the King of Qi. The King of Qi's army has entered Zhongzhou and is only a few days away from the capital. Your Majesty..."
He wanted to persuade Emperor Yongde to quickly consider how to fight.
If Emperor Yongde was deposed by the Prince of Qi, they, the old ministers of Emperor Yongde, would not know what fate they would face. Even out of selfish considerations, they had to help Emperor Yongde resist the Prince of Qi.
"He's here... He already knows. He came looking for me." Emperor Yongde's upper body stiffened. He turned around like a log, his eyes wandering again, not knowing where to look. "Zhuo'er is still in Xiliang. He won't help me. He must know too."
Duke Shen was completely bewildered, and increasingly convinced that Emperor Yongde had been bewitched. Otherwise, why wouldn't he understand a single word he was saying? He kept saying, "I know, I know," but what did that even mean?
"You...you know it too?" Emperor Yongde staggered towards him.
Duke Shen didn't dare to retreat any further. He quickly knelt down on the spot and said in a trembling voice, "Your Majesty, I don't know! I don't know what Your Majesty is talking about at all."
Emperor Yongde kept saying he knew, but he had no idea what he was referring to.
"Yes, you don't know," Emperor Yongde placed his hand on his shoulder and spoke more slowly, "I know you don't know... My dear, there's no need to panic."
This was the first sentence that Duke Shen understood since the morning.
He felt that Emperor Yongde's speech was becoming more normal. He secretly checked Emperor Yongde's expression and saw that his eyes were focused. Then he lifted his robe sleeve to wipe the sweat from his forehead and said, "I thank you."
The assignment the ministers had thrust upon him was truly terrifying. As the saying goes, serving the emperor is like serving a tiger, but now he wasn't serving a tiger, but an evil spirit. He was old, and couldn't handle the shock.
"My dear minister, please stand up." Emperor Yongde withdrew his hand. "You just said... that the Qi prince's army has entered the territory of Zhongzhou?"
Just as Shen Guogong was about to respond, a eunuch hurriedly led a sixty-year-old imperial physician into the imperial garden. Emperor Yongde looked up and saw him, immediately ignoring him and stepping forward to greet the physician.
"How is it? What's the result? Tell me quickly!" Emperor Yongde grabbed the imperial physician's wrist and asked hurriedly.
The imperial physician was almost crying out in fear of his grip, but he dared not shout. He could only grit his teeth and say, "Your Majesty, I... I have checked the pulse of the virtuous concubine. She..."
"Tell me the result quickly!" Emperor Yongde raised his voice, scaring the eunuch so much that he took two steps back.
The imperial physician was so frightened by Emperor Yongde that he fell to his knees and said in a trembling voice, "The previous two imperial physicians were right. The virtuous concubine has a naturally weak constitution and is simply unable to treat Your Majesty..."
"Ah!" Emperor Yongde screamed and stabbed the sword into the imperial physician's chest.
The eunuch's face turned pale, he fell to the ground, and tumbled out of the imperial garden, shouting:
"Your Majesty is crazy, Your Majesty is crazy, someone come quickly!"
"She lied to me. She knew it clearly, but she still lied to me." Emperor Yongde pulled the sword from the body of the imperial physician. "The Empress lied to me, and the Consort Xian also lied to me!"
He turned around and slowly walked towards Duke Shen.
Duke Shen had already collapsed on the ground in fear. Seeing Emperor Yongde approaching with a bloody sword in his hand, he was terrified and shouted:
"Your Majesty, please spare my life. Your Majesty, please spare my life."
"You're lying to me too. You must know that Zhuo'er is not my son, but you pretend not to know. You're just secretly laughing at me in your heart..."
As Emperor Yongde spoke, he walked up to Duke Shen and raised his sword.
After a scream, the Imperial Garden returned to peace.
Hearing the eunuch's cry for help, the palace guards rushed over and happened to run into Emperor Yongde as he walked out of the door. They immediately knelt down to pay their respects.
Emperor Yongde staggered like a drunk, holding the door with one hand and stabbing his sword into the ground with the other, and said to the guard leader:
"Quickly go to Jingyang Palace and give Concubine Xian poisoned wine and white silk. For the crime of deceiving the emperor... sentence her to death."
The guard leader received the order and was about to leave when a palace maid came running over from a distance, shouting in panic, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty! Someone broke into Jingyang Palace and took away Concubine Xian."
"What?" Emperor Yongde asked, "How is it possible...how many people are there?"
"Your Majesty, it's true!" The maid knelt before Emperor Yongde and shouted in panic, "There was only one person, a man in black with only his right hand. He killed the guards guarding Concubine Xian and jumped out of the wall with her. The imperial guards are chasing them."
"Only one person?" asked the guard commander in disbelief.
Emperor Yongde raised his sword and pointed it at the guard commander, shouting, "What are you still standing there staring at? This is the Great Yan Palace, this is my palace! Can a mere person come and go as he pleases?"
The guard commander quickly knelt down and said, "Your Majesty, please calm down. I will go and capture the assassin and bring the virtuous concubine back."
"No need to bring them back, kill them all." Emperor Yongde swung his sword at the stone lions nearby, sparks flying everywhere. "Kill them all. Everyone is deceiving me, everyone is laughing at me."
He chopped wildly until the sword fell from his hand, then swung his bare hands a few more times before covering his face with his hands and kneeling in the dust.
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